My Favorite Year
Joel Chernoff | writer = Dennis Palumbo Norman Steinberg | starring = | narrator = Mark Linn-Baker | music = Ralph Burns | cinematography = Gerald Hirschfeld | editing = Richard Chew | studio = | distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | released = | runtime = 92 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = $20,123,620 }} My Favorite Year is a 1982 American comedy film written by Dennis Palumbo and Norman Steinberg, and directed by Richard Benjamin, which tells the story of a young comedy writer.Variety film review; September 29, 1982. It stars Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, and Joseph Bologna. O'Toole was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film was adapted into an unsuccessful 1992 Broadway musical of the same name. Plot Benjy Stone (Mark Linn-Baker), the narrator, tells of the summer (in his "favorite year" of 1954) he met his idol, swashbuckling actor Allan Swann (Peter O'Toole). In the early days of television, Benjy works as a junior comedy writer for a variety show starring Stan "King" Kaiser (Joseph Bologna). As a special upcoming guest, they get the still famous (though largely washed-up) Swann. However, when he shows up, they realize that he is a roaring drunk. Kaiser is ready to dump him, until Benjy intervenes and promises to keep him sober during the week leading up to the show. As Benjy watches out for Swann (or at least tries to keep up with him), they learn much about each other, including the fact that they both have family they try to hide from the rest of the world. In Benjy's case, it's his Jewish mother (Lainie Kazan), who is married to a Filipino former bantamweight boxer, Rookie Carroca (Ramon Sison), and Benjy's embarrassing relatives, such as uncouth Uncle Morty (Lou Jacobi). For Swann, it is his young daughter, Tess (Cady McClain), who has been raised entirely by her mother, one of his many ex-wives. He stays away, but continues to keep tabs on her secretly, frustrated that he cannot muster the courage to reconnect with her. During the week of rehearsals, Kaiser is threatened by corrupt union boss Karl Rojeck (Cameron Mitchell), who does not appreciate being parodied on the show. "Accidents" start happening when Kaiser refuses to stop performing the "Boss Hijack" sketches. In a subplot, Benjy tries, clumsily and over-enthusiastically, to win the affections of co-worker K. C. Downing (Jessica Harper). Swann advises him on the right approach, which includes crashing a party at the home of K.C.'s affluent parents. The night of the show finally arrives, but minutes away from going on-air, Swann suffers a panic attack when Benjy informs him that the show is broadcast live. (He is accustomed to getting many takes to get his lines right, exclaiming, "I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star!") Swann gets drunk, and bolts from the studio, but is confronted by Benjy, who angrily tells him that he always thought of Swann as the swashbuckling hero he saw on the big screen, and that deep down, Swann possesses those qualities as a person. As Benjy puts it, "Nobody's that good an actor!" As the "Boss Hijack" sketch gets underway, Rojeck's men show up backstage and begin beating up Kaiser. The fight spills onto the stage during the live broadcast (with the audience thinking that it is part of the comedy sketch). Swann and Benjy observe the melee from a balcony, when the audience suddenly notices Swann and breaks into enthusiastic applause. Swann grabs a rope and swings into action (dressed as a Musketeer for a later skit), saving Kaiser in front of an appreciative if still clueless audience. Benjy narrates the epilogue, relating that Swann, his confidence bolstered, finally gets up the nerve to visit his daughter the next day and the two apparently have a heartfelt reunion. Cast * Peter O'Toole as Alan Swann * Mark Linn-Baker as Benjy Stone * Jessica Harper as K.C. Downing * Joseph Bologna as Stan "King" Kaiser * Bill Macy as Sy Benson * Ramon Sison as Rookie Carroca * Lainie Kazan as Belle Carroca * Lou Jacobi as Uncle Morty * Adolph Green as Leo Silver * Anne De Salvo as Alice Miller * Basil Hoffman as Herb Lee * George Wyner as Myron Fein * Cameron Mitchell as Karl Rojeck * Selma Diamond as Lil * Corinne Bohrer as Bonnie * Gloria Stuart as Mrs. Horn * Cady McClain as Tess Swann Relationship to real life Mel Brooks, executive producer of the film, was a writer for the Sid Caesar variety program Your Show of Shows, early in his career. Movie swashbuckler Errol Flynn was a guest on one episode, and this real-life occurrence inspired Dennis Palumbo's largely fictional screenplay. Swann was obviously based on Flynn, while Benjy Stone is loosely based on both Brooks and Woody Allen, who also wrote for Caesar. According to Brooks, the character of Rookie Carroca also was based on a real person, a Filipino sailor in the U. S. Navy who was his neighbor in Brooklyn. Much like Alan Brady on The Dick Van Dyke Show, King Kaiser represented Sid Caesar ("Kaiser" is the German equivalent of the Roman title Caesar). Selma Diamond, another former Your Show of Shows writer (who inspired Rose Marie's 'Sally Rogers' character on The Dick Van Dyke Show), appears as a costume mistress. The character of Herb, a comedy writer who whispers almost everything he has to say, is loosely based on Neil Simon, another of Caesar's staff writers, who, according to co-worker Carl Reiner, whispered ideas to colleagues rather than try to shout above the din of the noisy writers' room. Simon and Reiner made their own use of their Your Show of Shows experiences. Laughter on the 23rd Floor, written by Simon for the stage and later a television film, included thinly disguised versions of Sid Caesar and his staff. So did The Dick Van Dyke Show, which was created by Brooks' friend and colleague, Reiner (who would later star in Van Dyke's show as Alan Brady, with the character of Buddy Sorrell based on Brooks). Brooks acknowledges that most of the movie's plot was fabricated. He says that Flynn's appearance on Your Show of Shows was uneventful, that none of the writers had much interaction with Flynn, let alone become his friend or took him home to dinner. The film was the first directing effort for actor Richard Benjamin. Release My Favorite Year opened in 714 North American theaters on October 1, 1982 to $2,400,696 (#3, behind An Officer and a Gentlemen s eleventh weekend and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial s eighteenth).http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=1982&wknd=41&p=.htm It is one of the few movies that holds a 100% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Musical Lainie Kazan was the only member of the cast who reprised her film role for 1992's Broadway musical version of My Favorite Year, in which the character Alan Swann was portrayed by Tim Curry. Both were nominated for Tony Awards for their performances. References External links * * * Category:1982 films Category:1980s comedy films Category:American films Category:American comedy films Category:Films set in 1954 Category:Films about screenwriters Category:Films about actors Category:Films about alcoholism Category:Films about television Category:Films set in New York City Category:Films directed by Richard Benjamin Category:Directorial debut films Category:Brooksfilms films Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films